(Minghui.org) In The Essentials of Diligent Progress II, Master Li wrote, “Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts Are Powerful.” I have absolute faith in Master’s teaching, because I have personally experienced the power of righteous thoughts.

At the end of 2002, I was sent to a forced labor camp for one year because I had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa. After practitioners broadcast truth-clarification videos in Changchun on March 5, 2002, the Chinese Communist Party launched a massive crackdown, arresting large numbers of Falun Gong practitioners. Overnight, forced labor camps, prisons, and other detention facilities became overcrowded. The forced labor camp where I was detained had seven divisions, each housing nearly 400 people.

On New Year’s Day 2003, in an effort to showcase their so called “transformation” achievements, the camp held an event in which “transformed” inmates were allowed to invite their family members to the camp. There was to be a performance in the morning, followed by lunch with their families at noon. Many inmates signed up for this event.

I didn’t think much of it at that time, and simply continued my daily labor. At the labor camp, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., we had to work in the workshop except for meal breaks and a bathroom break at 7 p.m.

During the bathroom break, fellow practitioner Beishan told me, “Ma Yan has written more than a dozen speeches attacking Master and Dafa. They are really vile. She is supposed to deliver them tomorrow morning in front of all the family members. Isn’t this harming people?!”

When I asked what she thought we should we do, she replied, “We must stop her. Let’s talk to the squad leader.”

“Sure! I’ll go with you, but I’m not good with words. You’ll have to do the talking.”

“All right, let’s find the ‘corridor monitor’ first to tip them off,” Beishan said. (Day or night, the corridor monitor is assigned to notify the guards if anyone goes to their office.)

Beishan had graduated from college in accounting. She had memorized many of Master’s teachings and would write down passages from them for me to memorize, which helped me tremendously. Being with her gave me a real sense of confidence.

The corridor monitor said that Xing, the director of the labor camp, was talking with the squad leader in his office and told us to wait in the workshop. Beishan told me, “I know Xing, and he is truly evil.”

In 1999, when Beishan was sent to a forced labor camp for the first time, the guards tortured her in an attempt to force her to renounce her faith. They simultaneously shocked her head with nine electric batons, leaving her face badly disfigured. Xing was one of those who tortured her.

The monitor came in and told me I could go see the squad leader. I said I wanted to go with Beishan, but he said he had only mentioned me to the leader.

I suddenly felt enormous pressure. My heart started to pound uncontrollably, and my hands and feet began to tremble involuntarily. I wondered to myself as I walked, “What am I supposed to say? I’m not prepared at all! I’m just a rural woman with a junior high school education. I had just planned to support Beishan. Now I will be the only one talking. Can I do it?”

When I walked up to the office and was about to knock, I told myself, “I am a Dafa disciple. I should conduct myself with dignity. There is nothing to be afraid of. I’ll just say it straight out.”

When I was called in, I was not afraid at all. I looked straight at the squad leader and said, “I heard that Ma Yan is going to give a speech tomorrow attacking Master Li and Falun Dafa.”

His expression suddenly changed, “Yes, so what?”

“We won’t allow that.”

Director Xing, who sitting across from me, jumped to his feet, slammed his fist on the table, and shouted, “What?! You won’t allow it? Who do you think you are?”

The squad leader also shouted, “How dare you say that?! You are completely out of control!”

Far from being afraid, I said loudly, “If she goes up to give that speech, I’ll shout ‘Falun Dafa is good,’ and many other practitioners will do, too. I went to Tiananmen Square and shouted it, so why would I be afraid to shout it in this small labor camp?”

Neither of them said a word, and their menacing looks vanished. It took the squad lead a while to come to his senses before saying, “All right, I understand. You may leave.”

I went back to the workshop, sat down, and felt my heart pounding. I was really shaken. After 8 p.m. when work ended, fellow practitioners came to see me. I told them what had happened, and they were worried for me. Beishan said, “You have no idea how evil they are. I’m afraid they will give you trouble tomorrow.”

I said, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my word. If they let Ma Yan slander Master and Dafa tomorrow, I will stand up and shout, ‘Falun Dafa is good!’”

Other practitioners nodded, “We will all stand up and shout with you.”

Beishan said, “Let’s find a way to notify fellow practitioners in other squads so they can join us.”

The next morning, the guards held a meeting. No one came to me until the performance started. I stared at the stage the entire time, but Ma Yan never appeared, and there wasn’t a single speech throughout the entire performance that attacked Master or Dafa. I heard that the speeches to be given by those in other squads were also canceled at the last minute.

After the performance, the guard standing next to me handed me a balloon and said, “You have done well!” I thought it was ridiculous at the time, but looking back now, I realize that it was Master encouraging me.

Actually, I didn’t have strong righteous thoughts back then. They were truly forced out of me. At that critical moment, all I remembered was that I was a practitioner and shouldn’t be afraid. With just that single thought, Master reinforced my strength and ultimately dismantled the evil speech. Just as it says in Lecture Two of Zhuan Falun, “cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while transforming gong is done by one’s master.” It was all Master’s doing!

Now we know how to send forth righteous thoughts. As long as we regularly send righteous thoughts, never forget that we are Dafa disciples helping Master rectify the Fa, and always remember that we are here to save sentient beings and that we bear a historic mission and responsibility, we will be able to step forward, receive Master’s blessings, and save more people.

Thank you, Master! Thank you to my fellow practitioners who helped me through these trials!

These are my personal insights. Please kindly point out anything not in line with Dafa’s teachings.